Good Neighbours
On Friday I visited the Good Neighbourhood Scheme in my constituency in Barrow, which is overseen by a voluntary organisation called Suffolk ACRE, to help people in their community. As a local MP, I have always taken a very keen interest in voluntary projects as I believe they play a key role in helping vulnerable people in our society.
I particularly want to highlight the Good Neighbourhood Scheme because I believe it encapsulates the community spirit and voluntary ethos that I would like to see recognised and encouraged. In the atomised society which we live in, people in rural villages can feel very isolated. So many facilities in our rural villages have vanished.
Like many of the best ideas, the actual scheme is very simple and efficient. A team of volunteers in a village come together to set up a Good Neighbourhood Scheme, which centres around a mobile phone which is held on a rota basis by a member of the group, usually for a week or two.
The mobile number is published in the local paper and advertised across the village. Anyone living in the village is entitled to use the service.
The volunteers offer help and assistance, for example, visiting an elderly person to help with household tasks, driving someone to a doctors appointment if they do not have their own transport or simply dropping by to see someone who may have no friends or relations to provide them with some companionship.
I was so impressed by the warmth, generosity and dedication of the volunteers I met in Barrow on Friday. I would like to pay tribute to the valuable work they do and encourage others to consider setting up a similar group in their own towns and villages.
You can find out more information about the scheme and how to establish a similar scheme by following the link below: